flashlight this morning. i'm sure a lot of folks are, too. this storm another band of it is intensifying as it moves onshore again check our high- def doppler radar. look at the yellows in the system. we have some very strong gusty winds. we just had a gust at the golden gate of 52 miles an hour. that will likely bring down some trees and, boy, cause some power lines to come down as well. this band is making its way through the bay area now. earlier we had another band that moved through starting to push south now through san jose so you're seeing a lot of showers in the area, pockets of some moderate amounts of rainfall and a lot of strong gusty winds to go along with that. embedded in the system are cells that are producing moderate amounts of rainfall even some heavy rainfall as you move through. some reports now already over 6, 7" of rainfall in some parts of the north bay and still more to come. you can see this band that's making its way through the bay area now and some heavier cells as we take you in for a closer look. toward mill valley heavy rainfall in the area along 101

if you are traveling along here expect heavy rainfall and the possibility of some flooding now. a lot of that water is ending up in some of the basins now so we're likely to see some flooding in the creeks and streams. flash flood watches are up for the bay area and high wind advisories. we are not done. we'll see the storm system working through the bay area so, yes, the commute is going to be very dangerous, very treacherous. watch out for debris in the roads. of course, some ponding water, as well. we'll have more on your with you coming up. we'll have more storms coming. back to you. >> thank you. lawrence is talking about marin county taking a pounding all night. cbs 5 reporter anne makovec is in mill valley where the rain is still come down. what a nice day to be outside, huh, ann? >> are you guys laughing at me? [ laughter ] >> no, not at all. about 4" of rain here where i'm standing in this park and ride in mill valley. it often gets flooded because it's at sea level so this should be going down soon. but they have been preparing

for this as you might imagine. some of the areas are blocked off here and they have this sign, warning of the high tide flooding. today and for the next several days. now, the main problem that we have seen around here is the wind. we have a large truck that we travel in, and the thing was just rocking about half an hour ago. so with the wind and the rain and the wet ground, of course, we are waiting to see if things are going to start falling down, power poles, trees, things like that. hopefully not. but that's where we are right now here in mill valley. the rain, the biggest -- the wind, rather, the biggest problem as far as i can see. back to you guys warm and dry in the studio. >> anne, you look fabulous, by the way. >> reporter: thank you. [ laughter ] >> hang in there. it is 4:33 now. the storm knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses all around the bay area. pg&e says there are at least 300 customers in the dark here in san francisco. the peninsula has 5200 customers without power. the south bay has at least 2900

customers in the dark. and 8100 customers lost power up in the north bay. all lanes of westbound 580 are shut down. elizabeth wenger is ready for a busy day, another one, in the traffic center. >> our twitter is already lighting up. this seems to be our biggest hotspot out there right now. the road are slick, it is windy as lawrence said, and, yes, all lanes of westbound 580 shut down right now. this is a live look close to the dublin interchange. you can see the flashing lights so that westbound traffic is squeezing by on the shoulder. but we got brake lights as far back as livermore. earlier traffic alerts on 101 leaving san francisco is cleared. but we are seeing new problems pop up. towards the bay bridge toll plaza, it's pretty windy. we can already see some ponding especially in the middle lanes. that's where it tends to gather, the fastrak lanes. right now no big delays heading into san francisco but take it extra careful on a lot of bay

area bridges, a lot of wind advisories in effect. otherwise, coming up northbound towards cotati there is a smaller mud slide approaching railroad avenue and look at our cameras moving back and forth this morning a live look at the nimitz. this is 880 in oakland. you can see the headlights moving southbound towards oakland airport, oakland coliseum. nice across this stretch except for the slick roads. a lot of reports of downed trees as well as so if you want to use mass transit this morning, we are going to be really pumping up mass transit. everything is so far reporting no delay for bart systemwide, ace train number one, muni, caltrain and ferries. that's a check of traffic. back to you guys. there have been reports of lightning strikes in the bay area. cbs 5's elissa harrington joins us now from the san francisco airport. >> reporter: it's raining and windy. if we point the camera up to the lights you can see what we're dealing with here.

look at that rain being whipped around by these strong winds. sfo reports gusts up to 54 miles per hour. and then below you can see some of those trees whipping around, as well. now, as you said, there was a lightning strike just west of the airport around 3 a.m. and we could expect some flight delays even cancellations making a headache for those travelers who had to deal with this on wednesday. this is the second of a series of storms rolling into the bay area and on wednesday, 36 departures and 37 arrivals were canceled. some flights were delayed up to 3.5 hours. so we are going to kept a close eye on the departure and arrival board here at sfo. but as you can see just by looking at me it's very windy a lot of rain and the storm will continue throughout the morning. at sfo, elissa harrington, cbs 5. >> thank you. something in high demand around the bay area right now, sandbags. with nearly a foot of rain expected by the time this stormy weather ends, homes and businesses are putting the

sandbags in place to keep the floodwaters out. and this just came down about a minute ago. there is a flash flood warning in sonoma and that includes the city of petaluma. in petaluma the fire department has been offering sandbags at the north end of hopper street at lakeville street. >> the city has tons of plans in place and resources available to them both state and federal. i think they are well prepared. they are watching it probably more so than half the citizens here. >> flooding from the petaluma river did $28 million worth of damage back in 1982. since then, the city has spent $40 million on flood control projects and we hope they are okay because like said, flash flood warning in sonoma including the city of petaluma. we would like to see your storm photos or video. you can tweet, facebook us or email all of your photos or videos to mornings@cbs5.com. remember, you can get live hi-

def doppler for your neighborhood anytime, cbssf.com/weather. it is 4:37. it's not weather that kept planes grounded in southern california. it's the lights. a number of flights scheduled to leave bob hope airport were canceled after mechanical failure knocked out the lights on one of the runways. arrivals used a different runway but there were still some delays on flights from the bay area down south to burbank. >> frustrating because i think the lights were out before we actually boarded the plane and they didn't tell us. they thought they were going to be able to fix it and be done. >> they had been working through the night to repair the lights in burbank. it's up to the individual airlines to decide if they want to use that airport. three people are under arrest accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in mountain view. officers say they found the girl drunk near castro elementary wednesday night and bruising on her back. the suspects are two 17-year-

old boys and 23-year-old mario pinto. according to police, they were drinking with the victim at someone's home before the assault. fremont police have released a photo of synthetic drugs seized during raids of two smoke shops. two men were arrested in last month's raid at rockies and monsters of rock smoke shop. the drug included spice, salvia and bath salts. the alameda county district attorney's office is now reviewing the cases. a vallejo rapper on the run since april is under arrest in las vegas. michael lott will be brought up to sacramento to face federal drug trafficking charges. investigators say lott is associated with "thizz" entertainment. back in april, agents arrested 25 people connected to the label all accused of selling drugs. at the time fans expressed their disappointment. >> because what he is saying i can relate to. >> if you are being unjustly charged, that's very unfair. >> investigators are still trying to track down two more rappers linked to the alleged drug ring. >> other bay area headlines a

carjacking suspect has been ordered to stand trial in san jose in connection with a january car chase that injured four officers. 28-year-old alejandro gonzalez faces more than a dozen charges. he is accused of punching a man during the carjacking at king and mckee roads and then leading police on a car chase on the east side. the four officers were injured as patrol cars were hit in three different locations. the oakland city council could vote early next year on a plan to beef up the police department. the proposal includes hiring some civilians and some members of the sheriff's department to assist police. it would also speed up the hiring of new police officers. time now 4:40. toxic mistake what will happen to a caregiver who gave poisonous mushrooms to her patient? >> and the prop 8 debate going to washington. what the supreme court will consider when deciding whether to hear the case. >> and the rain is getting heavier and so is the wind. we'll have your hour-by-hour forecast coming up after the break. ,,,,,,,,

every time someone chooses finish over cascade, it sparks a movement. because people can't keep it to themselves. look ! no ugly spots ! awesome! incredible shine. i'm switching for good. love, love, love finish! over a million people have switched to finish. visit us on facebook.

two days ago was the hors d'oeuvre. we are getting the main course now. >> this is an impressive storm system moving through the bay area. we have had reports now over 7" of rainfall in some of the mountains in the north bay that's a concern now. we have some flood warnings up now in the petaluma area, the penngrove stream there is looking to crest its banks now. so if you live near that area, take higher ground. we are seeing more rain so likely to see rising in the penngrove stream as also a lot of the streams and creeks around the area. still, it looks like the main rivers are expected to stay within their banks but wow, check out high-def doppler radar. another strong system making its way through the bay area. you see the yellows and the oranges extending all the way from the north bay off along the coastline and so this is going to slowly work through the bay area. that's the big concern with the storm system. it's a slow mover. because of that, it's been able

to drop a tremendous a rainfall. in the petaluma area right now you're still seeing some rainfall where we are seeing that flooding there now it looks like they are finally going to catch a break on the back side. but they are going to see the water running down the hills so the rise in the creeks will continue over the next few hours before things begin to subside. flash flood warnings are in the petaluma area. looks like flood watch continues around the bay area especially at the coast. gusts this last hour of 52 miles per hour at the golden gate, a gust of 48 miles per hour at sfo. of course, that's likely going to cause delays there. so a very wet and windy start to the day. by the afternoon though more showery and then storm number 3 moves in on saturday night. that again looks like it could be another powerful storm and any more rain is going to cause a quick rise now in the rivers and the possibility of some flooding. so here we go. here's your storm system moving through right now. it's going to take time buy think through the morning hours

finally going to get the back side of that and then things turning showery toward the afternoon. strong storm through the bay area right now and then it slides by. maybe intensifying a little bit as it comes through. even at 5:00 in the morning, look at the san jose area. they are getting that main band coming through in that direction with some heavy rainfall and the possibility of some isolated flooding. by the afternoon, though, things begin to break up to more showers and then things begin to taper off a little bit but very wet pattern now set up as the jet stream well south of the bay area so we are going to see showers on and off as we head in through saturday. so not much of a break. rainfall totals pretty impressive. we have already seen 7" of rainfall in the north bay. we are going to get more on the way. some place over 3." check that out in redwood city. two inches in the san jose area. only it says one inch in the santa cruz mountains. that's hard to believe. i suspect we'll see more than that in the next 24 hours. temperatures in the 60s. toward the next couple of days be careful it's dangerous on the roads. a lot of debris and winds outside and, of course, you

have some flooding on some of the roads, as well. the next storm system moves in saturday night into sunday. more flooding on localized streams and creeks a concern that we're looking at the russian river cresting near flood stage as we head in toward monday morning. if we see more rain than we expect, we could actually see some flooding along the russian river. we hope that doesn't happen but boy what a wild few days we have ahead. >> i know. this morning, i mean, we all took it careful coming into work. lots of reports of downed trees. i think we have something like three separate traffic alerts just about every bridge in the bay area with a wind advisory. so i'm going to keep pushing it. mass transit is your best option today. the roads are a mess in a lot of places. one of our biggest issues now is this westbound 580 drive right there approaching the dublin interchange. you see all the flashing lights in our cameras so the issue with a big rig accident early this morning, there was a diesel fuel spill. still all lanes of westbound five five are still blocked so

it's slow as far back as livermore. some cars are able to get by on the right-hand shoulder but you will basically want to avoid this area. they are going slow. let's go to our live traffic cameras another view from the scene. we have a camera close to tassajara. and you can see that traffic is very slow right now from livermore through the altamont pass, drive time already about 21 minutes and, of course, that continues to grow. so we are getting a couple of other reports of different incidents. a mud slide blocking lanes northbound one approaching railroad avenue in cotati. we have downed wires a tree that struck some power lines. so california highway 84 completely shut down in woodside between grandview drive and highway 35. and if i can click past this, there we go, here's a live look at the golden gate bridge. once again, you can see the flashing lights out there. they are just doing your usual lane changes for this time of the morning. the roads are very slick and again a lot of bridges have high wind advisories in effect so it's already slow on the

approach to the golden gate bridge toll plaza. elsewhere westbound 237 no reports of any incidents here. everything looks good so far for the silicon valley commute. and mass transit great start. no issues for bart, ace, muni, caltrain and ferries. that is traffic and weather together every 10 minutes. back to you guys. >> and you are busy. okay, liz, thanks. 4:47 now. the united nations general assembly now recognizes the palestinian state. the resolution upgrading the palestinian status to a nonmember observer state at the united nations was approved by more than two-thirds majority. the united states was among the small minority. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says the vote was in violation of previous agreements and that is that his nation will act accordingly but didn't say what steps they may take. president obama is heading to pennsylvania this morning hoping to generate support for its plan to avoid the dreaded "fiscal cliff." on capitol hill, treasury

secretary timothy geithner pitched the president's plan to house and senate leaders yesterday including $1.6 trillion in new revenue and cuts to entitlement programs. the plan didn't bring republicans and democrats closer to agreement. >> the democrats have yet to get serious about real spending cuts. >> we're waiting for some specifics somewhere from our republican colleagues to show that they are serious on negotiations. >> if a compromise is not reached by year's end, automatic tax hikes and across- the-board budget cuts would take effect. little is being said about the meeting between president obama and mitt romney. the two had lunch at the white house yesterday their first face-to-face encounter since their final presidential debate. the media were kept away from the private get-together. white house officials say the two discussed u.s. leadership in the world and promised to stay in contact. united states supreme court

is due veal today whether it will take up california's same- sex marriage debate. this afternoon the court is due it reveal a list of cases it plans to review. if the prop 8 case is on the list it would likely be decided next summer. but if the justices opt not to hear it, the appeals court ruling against prop 8 would stand. >> if the court denies the appeal and marriages resume it's a historic day in california. if the court hears the case, we believe we'll have that huge historic day. it will just take place a little farther down the road next june. >> meanwhile prop 8 supporters say if their appeal fails it would go against the wilf the california voters. the federal government is ousting an oyster farm from point reyes ending a long battle over the sea. the drakes bay oyster company has operated at the marin county location since the

1930s. but the company's long run is ending because its federal lease to operate there ends today. environmental groups have fought for years to evict the farm and return the area to its natural state. >> there's a much, much broader effect to this wrong decision. it's 30 employees. >> the company now has 90 days to cease operations and remove its property from parklands. 4:450. a caregiver who served up poisonous mushrooms to residents at a senior care facility in loomis has learned her fate. the state is banning lilia terdia for life from working at such facilities. four residents died from poisonous mushrooms she picked and served. >> i know she feels sorry. i know she can't forget what happened. i know she never thought

something like this is going to happen. >> lilia also ate the poisonous mushrooms and needed several days of treatment in the hospital for a serious illness. we might have pictures of the newest multimillionaire. a man in yellow checked hits numbers at a store in maryland. seconds later he is showing the ticket off and looks excited. the clerk says the man had a winner from wednesday's powerball drawing the one that was sold in arizona. meanwhile, the owner of the winning ticket from missouri will be revealed today. and he is showing it off to his buddies. >> caltrans worker or something like that. >> yeah. california is jumping on the powerball bandwagon. the golden state will be the 43rd state to offer the game that features fast growing jackpots. the state lottery commission voted unanimously to add the game to its offering. it's encouraging news for the owner of a fremont store that's recently sold other winning tickets. >> if the winning powerball

ticket is sold here, what does that mean to you? >> it means a lot for me. i pay off all my bills and probably go for vacation. >> reporter: why do you like it? >> money to retire. >> there you go. powerball is expected to take in as much as $120 million for schools. the game starts in california next april. >> can you imagine handling your ticket in yeah, you got all six numbers. >> i can't imagine. i would be jumping an screaming. >> he was: 4:52. keeping an eye on the storms. where advisories are in effect. >> plus, how buying a pair of boots turned one police officer into an internet sensation. >> and the perfect forecast. how a curious cat stole this weatherman's thunder. cute. coming your way. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

a very strong storm moving

through the bay area. you see the yellows and oranges on the doppler radar. it is coming down very heavily. flash flood watches are up in the bay area. flash flood watch in various places and penngrove stream flooding. >> wind advisories already on the golden gate and the bay bridge. and a traffic alert in effect through pleasanton. all lanes still blocked on westbound 580. a full look at your traffic coming up. [ speaking spanish ] >> a cat wandered into a tv studio in miami, snuck over to the old green screen. the weather wall there. the cat stealing the spotlight during the meteorologist live broadcast. in the sure he picked up on it. the weatherman keeps his cool. it's one of many that usually wanders outside in the parking lot. apparently snuck in and decided

to make a canyon. >> sure didn't. >> that's cool. >> i guess they have a problem with stray cats in that area. it was an act of kindness on a cold new york street. >> but the photo of one officer's generosity is warming hearts all over the world. an arizona tourist snapped this picture here. it shows an officer giving a barefoot homeless man a new pair of boots. nearly half a million people have "liked" it on the department's facebook page. i just looked down at this gentleman's feet and could you see the blisters from a distance. it was so cold that i knew i had to do something. >> the homeless man said he had never had a pair of shoes and smiled from ear to ear once his feet were warm. the officer says he keeps the receipt in his bulletproof vest to remind him there are always people who need help. and that is so nice. just an act of kindness. he didn't know that he was being photographed. he didn't know anyone was really watching. >> and apparently the shoe store was right next door and

told him what he was going to do and they were a hundred dollars and gave them to him for half price. >> very nice. 4:57. a bay area rapper busted by the feds. why he has been on the run for months. >> and, of course, we're keeping an "eye on the stormy" weather. a live look at high-def doppler radar as another band of wet weather is sweeping across the bay area. and i can barely keep ahold of my umbrella. the possibility of flash floods here in the north bay. we have a live report next. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

now dumped so much rain on sonoma county that there's a flash flood warning there ft this you're watching cbs 5 "eyewitness news this morning." >> there is so much rain in sonoma county that there's a flash flood warning in the next hour including petaluma. but the entire bay area could have flooding today through the